Aquaporin signs new contract with the European Space Agency

Aquaporin Space Alliance (ASA), a joint venture between Aquaporin and Danish Aerospace Company (DAC), has signed a new contract with ESA (European Space Agency) for the development of a Water Recovery System (WRU) for use in space.

The new contract is part of ESA’s General Support Technology Program and covers the development of a full-ground prototype of a future space water purification system.

The Danish Aerospace Company and Aquaporin have worked on various technological aspects for such a system for several years, including flying three company-funded water cleaning technology experiments on Danish ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen’s flights to the ISS in 2015 and 2023.

It is a proud day for Jörg Vogel, the Vice President of Open Innovation and daily leader of the space project at Aquaporin.

“This is a major milestone for the Aquaporin Inside® technology and collaboration with Danish Aerospace Company. We are proud to develop technologies and solutions that can push the boundaries of water filtration in space,” says Jörg Vogel.

Utilizing the Aquaporin Inside® technology

DAC and ASA (Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS) have previously contracted with ESA to develop specific key technologies for the water purification system and de-risking various areas. These key technologies will now be integrated and developed into a full-scale prototype to be tested on the ground. The full WRU system will be based on an open-loop triple circulation system with two-stage filtration powered by the Aquaporin Inside® technology.

• Danish Aerospace Company (DAC) and Aquaporin Space Alliance ApS (ASA) will now develop and integrate the technologies into a fully operational prototype of the water purifying system for space called WRU – Water Recovery Unit.
• The system will recycle urine from astronauts and the condensate collected from the atmosphere in spacecrafts and space stations, so the cost of launching water for astronauts in space can be reduced.
• The system includes, among other things, Aquaporin A/S’ unique Aquaporin Inside® membrane technology, which utilizes aquaporin proteins to transport water through the membrane. Aquaporin proteins are nature’s own water purifier.
• The work can lead to a new type of compact water purifying system, which may be tested on the International Space Station in the future and subsequently used on commercial Space Stations, human flights to the Moon, and the future space station orbiting the Moon, Lunar Gateway.
• Further, the WRU technology has the potential to purify water in remote or isolated communities and be used in military and disaster relief areas.

“We are very pleased that we have now signed the contract for the WRU Breadboard Project with ESA. It is a technology area for which we have dedicated a lot of time in the past several years, to maturing and de-risking the various technology elements,” says Thomas A. E. Andersen, CEO of Danish Aerospace Company and Aquaporin Space Alliance.

About Aquaporin Space Alliance

To create aerospace’s future water filtration system, Aquaporin founded Aquaporin Space Alliance in 2013 in collaboration with Danish Aerospace Company. Since then, tests of our prototype have been sponsored by ESA and conducted by the Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen on the International Space Station. On the Huginn mission in August 2023, Andreas Mogensen tested the system again, this time on a broader scale. The ultimate purpose of the water filtration system is to help realize space missions to Mars by bringing down the quantity and, thereby, costs of transporting goods – including water – into space.

About Aquaporin

Aquaporin is an innovative water technology company with operations in Denmark (HQ), Singapore, Turkey, the United States, and China. We are committed to rethinking water filtration with biotechnology to solve global water challenges. By combining three disciplines from the world of natural sciences: biology, chemistry, and physics, we have created the unique, nature-inspired Aquaporin Inside® technology which we embed into all our membranes and solutions. Our technology is based on Nobel Prize-winning research and is used to clean and reuse water in industries, in our homes, and even by NASA in space. We work with customers and partners around the globe to responsibly treat industrial wastewater, concentrate food and beverage products in a natural way, and enhance drinking water quality and accessibility.